My Review of FitnessVT.com – What You Need to Know Before You Signup

If you know me at all, then you know I’m a serial dieter (not to be confused with a cereal dieter, though that would be pretty bad ass).

I’ve tried a lot of diets: Weight Watchers, the Sacred Heart diet, South Beach diet, Atkins, My Fit Foods Diet, The Men’s Health Belly-Off diet and exercise program, some crazy 7 day fruit and veggie diet that had me eating green beans and broccoli for breakfast (and Jack in the Box by day 3). The list goes on and on, but you get the idea.

With all those diets under my belt (oh yeah, just you “weight”, there are plenty more puns where that came from) you’d think I would be an expert, but I’m not.

You’d also think I’d be super skinny.

Nope. Not that either.

Just a former skinny, turned fatty, trying to be a skinny again.

So a couple of my good friends (Jeff Rexroad and Angel Huerta), who also happen to be really talented MMA fighters, tried this new program called FitnessVT. It’s actually used by a bunch of MMA fighters from here locally in Houston all the way up to the UFC. In fact, from what I can tell, when the program first started it was geared toward MMA fighters (at least that would explain why they have a “…with weight cut” option).

Both Jeff and Angel told me they had never felt better during training and leading up to a fight. Both guys cut a LOT of weight. Example: Jeff walks around at about 205-210 and weighs in at 170.

Leading Up To The Diet: About My Journey

I was on the upside of my yo-yo diet when I realized I was fatter than I had ever been. I weighed 214lbs (I’m 5’10) so I knew I needed to do something. Hell, when I met my wife I was 150lbs!

I digress.

My sister-in-law and I signed up to run the “10 For Texas” 10 mile race. I did this because I knew that it would force me to train. So the first thing I did was download the Hal Higgdon Half marathon guide. I had used his full marathon guide as my trainer back when I was training for the Houston marathon in 2007/2008, so I knew it would get me ready.

I lost about 20lbs training for the race, but when it had come and gone I still wasn’t close to my goal so I did the Belly Off diet (for like the 5th time). This helped me lose another 10 lbs and started adding some muscle to my frame; but for the first time ever doing it I had plateaued. I couldn’t lose any more weight. I had hit 185lbs and was stuck there for several months. I added more running to the mix and lost 5 more lbs.

THEN THE HOLIDAYS CAME

I weighed in on Dec 19 at 180.8lbs. I signed up for FitnessVT on Jan 1…but I didn’t start the program. I gave myself another week to get past other social stuff going on and then I said I’d buckle down on Jan 7. When all was said and done, and after some serious eating on January 5th and 6th, my starting weight for this program would be 188.8. I had already filled out my goal of 185, so I left it.

The Good Stuff

By now you’re saying to yourself, enough bullshit dude, get to the good stuff.

Fine! I just felt like a little background might be helpful.

So, what is FitnessVT? I guess if I had to sum up what it is it would go like this:

It’s a diet program that takes the thinking out of dieting. You plug in a few numbers (height, weight, body fat %, goal weight) and it spits out a plan. Included in that plan is not only what to eat and when to eat it, but it’s also a shopping list that you can print.

The only thing it doesn’t do (besides tell you how to workout) is that it doesn’t tell you how to prepare your food. This can be good if you like creativity, bad if you lack it. That said, it doesn’t take long to start to figure out what you should do with the items you’ve been given.

For example, here is the menu I was given for my breakfast:

I chopped the red potato up and browned it in the olive oil (added some garlic powder and pepper…NO SALT!). I added the egg whites and egg and presto, breakfast is served.

Another example. For a snack I was allowed:

I blended it all together and drank it (especially since low-fat plain Kefir taste like a giraffe’s asshole. Yes, that’s an assumption. If I’m wrong and that’s NOT what giraffe’s asshole taste like, email me and I’ll print a retraction.).

GETTING STARTED

Pick a Plan

First thing you need to do is figure out the plan you want. I went with the basic $39 plan. Unless you’ve never ever ever been on a diet before I don’t see the need to pay for the right to talk to the guy (though I’m sure there is some great info to be gained).

Set A Goal

Once you sign up, the next thing you’ll do is setup a goal. You’ll choose the type of goal (weight loss/gain, weight cut, performance boost). Then you’ll give it some info like: current weight, age, height, body fat %, and your goal weight.

After that you need to tell it about your daily activities. What time do you wake up? How much time do you spend during the day sitting? Standing? Walking? Working/labor? (I suggest you track this for a day or 2 before you sign up if you’re in to accuracy).

Once you enter all that, the site will return a plan for you that includes a target date. To give you and idea, here are all my stats from my current goal (yes, you can have more than one goal – not at a time mind you – but if you want to break it up into manageable goals you can do that.):

Learn From My Experience

THINGS TO BUY

Buy a scale – every thing you eat will be measured in oz. Trust me, you can’t do this without a scale. I got one with a “tare” feature so you can put a plate or bowl on it and it will start from zero. WELL WORTH THE MONEY.

Buy a hand blender/mixer (I do a lot of Kefir/Banana/Peanut Butter shakes for my snacks)

PLAN YOUR MEALS OUT ON THE WEEKEND! – Doing this will allow you to grocery shop and then come home and make your meals. TRUST ME, you want to make at least a few days worth of meals in advance. The only thing I don’t make are my shakes, but everything else I get ready on Sunday and/or Monday and just make all my shakes for the day each morning.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Get ready to drink lots of water

Get ready to pee a lot.

Expect to spend at least $150 on groceries the first week. About $50-75 after that.

The first 2 days of this diet are going to suck.

THE FIRST 2 DAYS OF THIS DIET ARE GOING TO SUCK.

THE FIRST 2 DAYS OF THIS DIET ARE GOING TO SUCK.

THE FIRST 2 DAYS OF THIS DIET ARE GOING TO SUCK.

THE FIRST 2 DAYS OF THIS DIET ARE GOING TO SUCK.

Guess what gang…THE FIRST 2 DAYS OF THIS DIET ARE GOING TO SUCK.

After the first 2 days you’ll feel a lot better. You’ll have a lot of energy and won’t be hungry nearly as much as you are the first 2 days.

OTHER TIPS

Plan your exercise for the week and THEN modify your meals for each day. If you change your exercise, you lose your custom meal plan changes.

If you don’t need it to be changed up (read: variety), you can usually make your snack for the day at once. Like I said above, I make my Kefir shake x 3 (yes, 3 snacks) and then drink 1/3 at each snack.

The same is true for your lunches. I would just make 2 of the same lunch meals. Makes it easy.

Get ready to lose a shit load of weight.

More Screen Shots

DASHBOARD

GROCERY LIST

DAILY MEAL PLAN

SUMMARY

I’m not the reviewing type, but I have been so blown away by my results I had to put my experience into words. Last week I lost A POUND A DAY. Yes…a pound a day. Don’t believe me, below is my daily weight chart (vs what my goal weight is for each day) – see if you can spot the day(s) I cheated:

(Each dot is a day. I didn’t track my weight the first 4 days because I started at 188.8 and not 185 as I should have.)

I’m not going to put a bunch of stuff in here that’s going to try to convince you to go sign up. You can believe me, and the 2 MMA fighters that turned me on to the program, when I tell you it works or not.

Bottom line: I started the program weighing 188.8lbs – that was on January 7th. I’m writing this and it’s January 22 and I weigh 176lbs. I’ve lost almost 13lbs in 15 days (and that includes a cheat day on the 13th when I ate burgers and crap all day).

The Bottom line below the bottom line: Go sign up, unless you like being a fatty.

FULL DISCLOSURE: After I joined the program and started using it, I got an email from one of the owners who is also the main web master. Turns out, I know the guy. That has ZERO to do with this review. To be honest, if it sucked I just wouldn’t take the time to review it.